FICCI-CRISIL Study Recommends Eight-Point Strategy For Rajasthan

ET&T Staff - Bangalore

A FICCI-CRISIL study has recommended an eight-point strategy to arrest the declining trend in foreign tourist arrivals in Rajasthan and to put the tourism industry on a higher platform. The strategy calls for creation of rural tourism resorts in tribal bases, eco-rural circuits, desert experience projects, health tourism for foreign tourists and promotion of medical tourism.The strategy will also include integration of these projects into the existing circuits, review of the policy framework and proactive steps to attract private investment.

The recommendations assume importance in view of the declining share of the state in foreign arrivals vis-à-vis other states. International arrivals to Rajasthan increased a meagre 61 percent as compared to a 172 percent jump at the country level from 1991 to 2004.

Rajasthan's share of India's foreign tourist pie, or revenue from foreign tourist arrivals, has decreased from 48.4 per cent in 1991 to 28.7 per cent in 2004. Other states like Kerala and UP are steadily increasing their share of foreign arrivals.

International tourists to Kerala rose five times, from a mere 69,000 in 1991 to 3,45,546 in 2004, and its share in India's foreign tourist arrivals doubled from 5.6 per cent in 1991 to 10.19 per cent in 2004.

The FICCI-CRISIL study, among other things, suggested creation of rural tourism resorts and attractive destinations in tribal bases. Rajasthan should ideally combine rural and eco-tourism attractions to create circuits that could synergise both these features, and offer an integrated experience to lengthen the tourists' stay, it said. The state should combine 'health' as a tourism product offering, especially to foreign tourists, the study further stated.